gurps_falloutfandomcom-20200214-history
New California Republic
New California Republic The New California Republic (NCR) is the largest and most powerful state in the post-war world as of 2287, with a population of nearly 1 million people. Emulating the former United States, it maintains a democratic government with an elected bureaucracy hampered by corruption. History The NCR originated from war survivors who emerged from Vault 15 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 2141, a schism within the vault led to a large group of the vault dwellers to exit the vault and form the Jackals, Vipers, and Khans. The remaining vault dwellers (led by Aradesh) traveled a few miles west (near the former location of Bishop, CA) and used the GECK from their vault to establish a simple village, Shady Sands. In 2161, Albert Cole encountered Shady Sands while traveling to Vault 15 in search of a replacement water chip for his vault. He aided the village in ending radscorpion attacks and rescued Aradesh's daughter, Tandi, from the Khans. With his aid, the township expanded rapidly and the village leaders elected to form the New California Republic in 2186 with Aradesh as its first president. Within several decades, very little of the original village remained. Upon the death of Aradesh in 2196, Tandi was unanimously elected president by the council. The NCR expanded to encompass multiple states, aided in 2242 by the Chosen One, the grandchild of Albert Cole. In 2246, the NCR and Brotherhood of Steel attacked and wiped out almost all traces of the Enclave on the West Coast and drove the Jackals, Vipers, and Khans east out of their territory. Enclave remnants attempted to hide within the NCR, but were often caught and tried for war crimes. Upon the death of Tandi in 2248, Joanna Tibbett was elected president; she was ousted after only 5 years due to the massacre of 38 NCR scouts by raiders in the Mojave and replaced by Wendell Peterson, who dispatched 3 battalions of NCR troops to the Mojave. The NCR signed the Ranger Unification Treaty in 2271, officially folding the Desert Rangers of Nevada into the NCR military. Relations between the NCR and Brotherhood of Steel deteriorated over the decades due to the Brotherhood's xenophobia and mistrust of their use of technology, eventually dissolving into outright war. Simultaneously, the NCR encountered Caesar's Legion. Aaron Kimball was elected president in 2273, overseeing the war with the Brotherhood and electing to ignore the Legion for the time being. In 2274, the NCR soldiers in the Mojave came across the former city of Las Vegas. They were shocked to find that the city was still operational and run by pre-war businessman Robert House, who signed the New Vegas Treaty with the NCR to give them control of Hoover Dam and 5% of its power in return for Vegas remaining independent. The NCR converted the ruins of McCarran Airport into Camp McCarran, their main military base in the city, and continued their conflict with the Brotherhood of Steel in both California and Nevada. As the NCR evaluated its decisions with regards to the Legion, the Brotherhood destroyed the NCR's gold deposits, severely damaging the value of the NCR dollar. Fearing a war on two fronts, the NCR delivered a crushing blow to the Brotherhood at the HELIOS One solar energy plant, sending the Brotherhood into hiding and capturing the plant for their own use. In 2277, Caesar's Legion attacked the NCR at Hoover Dam. The NCR won a Pyrrhic victory, weakened by the losses taken to the Legion and feeling the effects of their dollar crashing. The NCR was forced to lease water and electricity to maintain their presence in the Mojave. To ensure that no raiders would attack them in their weakened position, in 2278 the NCR attacked the Khan encampment at Bitter Springs; the exact circumstances of what occurred are unknown and the NCR censored media reports of it, but large numbers of women, children, and elderly were massacred and the Khans were driven to Red Rock Canyon. By 2281, the NCR began to expand further into the Mojave, increasing tensions as residents feared losing their independence to annexation. As the Legion's power across the Colorado River grew, the NCR began plotting to take power from Mr. House and the Three Families to eventually annex New Vegas. All efforts to capture New Vegas were stymied when Courier Six, the drifter hired to deliver a platinum poker chip to Mr. House, leveraged his position and knowledge to eliminate House and manipulate events to place himself in control of the city. The NCR defeated the Legion at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, but Courier Six used his upgraded Securitron army to eject the NCR from the Mojave. Unable to resist the massive army of robots, they were forced to return to their borders. Despite this setback, the NCR as of 2287 continues to desire expansion and dreams of one day conquering New Vegas. Government The NCR is a democratic republic ruled by a president. Mimicking the pre-war United States, the government is divided into judicial, legislative, and executive branches. * The Judicial branch consists of judges and courts who make rulings on interpreting law. * The Legislative branch consists of Congress, divided into the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congresspeople are elected by their states and vote on laws, treaties, and other matters of state. * The Executive branch consists of the president and vice president in a Republic Council. The president has limited ability to make unilateral decisions and legislation through Executive Orders and can veto laws accepted by Congress. In practice, the states all vie for power and influence through their congresspeople. Brahmin barons, criminal gangs, traders, and others in positions of power place pressure on their representatives to vote in their favor. Monopolies are common in every business, aided by legislation that gives additional power to wealthy individuals and companies in return for favors to the politicians. There is no limit on how many 5-year terms a president may serve, with Tandi dying of old age in her 11th term. Society NCR citizens generally live in safety thanks to the strength of their military, but are known to chafe at high taxes and what they view as excessive regulation. Wealthier areas of the NCR have nearly pre-war standards of living, including working vehicles, aircraft, and trains. There's little to no sexism in the NCR, but there is lingering anti-mutant and anti-ghoul sentiment related to the attempted takeover by the Master's army of super mutants in 2161 and attacks by feral ghouls. There's a strong separation of church and state, with non-harmful religions being given free reign to practice but having little to no influence over the government. Military The NCR has the most powerful military on the West Coast, providing their power and safe borders and aiding in their aggressive expansion. The NCR mostly follows the pre-war United States Army in terms of rank and organization, though equipment is somewhat less standardized; this increases the further the units get from California. The New California Rangers act as a special forces unit, with numerous safehouses throughout the wasteland to allow them to strike beyond NCR borders. As with the government, corruption and laziness are endemic in the NCR military, getting worse the further the units are from the capital. With the NCR's overextension into the Mojave, soldiers are known to engage in drug dealing, equipment theft for black market sales, and abuse of citizens. Currency The NCR issues its own currency, based on the pre-war dollar and backed by gold. At its peak, the NCR dollar (NCR $) was so valuable that the bottle caps previously used were virtually worthless. Upon the destruction of their gold deposits, however, the dollar heavily depreciated in value. By 2281, the conversion rate was $2.50 to 1 cap; while dollars are still issued and used for payment by the government, bottle caps are used even within NCR territory.